Joe Soap given a role but Cabinet still rules the roost

“We believe that in recent years an over-powerful executive has turned the Dáil into an observer of the political process rather than a central player and that this must be changed” — Programme for Government, 2011.

The promise of “radical reform” of how the Dáil operates — made by the coalition parties as they swept into power two-and-a-half years ago — was based on the need to shift more power towards the national parliament and away from central government.

The latest reform proposals — while aiming to increase the effective-ness and efficiency of the Dáil — offer little in the way of rebalancing the power away from what many view to be an all-power cabinet.

Under the plans, unveiled at a press conference yesterday, a “pre-legislative stage” will be introduced, allowing members of the public, experts, or civic society groups to come before an Oireachtas committee to offer their input before a law is drafted.

The decision on whose opinions count will be made by the Oireachtas committees. There are no clear rules on who will be chosen to give their views on a particular law, or why.

The Government will still effectively call the shots because a decision on who to invite to give their views will be subject to the party whip system and therefore decided by Government parties.

So if a minister does not want a person with a dissenting viewpoint contributing to the preparation of a law, they will be able to stop them.

The Taoiseach suggested yesterday that people who wrote letters to newspapers would be called to give their views to a committee (because this happens in Finland). Many will wonder if their opinions are any more worthy than the senators he proposes to get rid of. Moreover, there is no explicit obligation for a minister to put a piece of law through this “pre-legislative” process.

It provides a get-out clause, stating: “Where the minister does not bring a bill to committee for pre-legislative stage, they will be required to outline to both cabinet and the Dáil the reasons for this decision.”

The note states that the process of bringing ordinary Joe Soaps to a committee will only be used in “non-emergency” legislation.

This has echoes of the Programme for Government promise that the use of the guillotine on bills would only happen in “exceptional circumstances”. Since then, the guillotine has been used on 63% of bills, meaning they were voted on without full scrutiny or debate.

The latest proposals do not contain any specifics on use of the guillotine — something that has long been a source of frustration among TDs.

But the Government hopes that the additional six hours of Dáil sitting time per week and shorter holidays will give more time for legislative debate, avoiding backlogs.

The latest proposals, while containing worthy commitments to work longer hours, mean the Dáil will still be an observer rather than a central player — a far cry from the pledge made in the Programme for Government.

While members of the public might have a greater say in the creation of laws, a refusal to change the whip system means the TDs they vote to represent them will still be faced with what one backbencher recently described as the “know your place” mentality in the Dáil.

And the declaration by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore yesterday that the changes would “shine a light on Government” is likely to prove little more than empty words.

It will be hard to avoid the conclusion that this announcement was a good PR exercise in their campaign to abolish the Seanad.